Joyful Entertainment with Naa from Kdrama Bingo

S2 E20 / Naa, small business owner, creator of Kdrama Bingo, and devoted kdrama fan, joins me to talk about all things Kdrama joy! 

✨ Naa is passionate about building “communities of joy” through playful fandom and shares how she started Kdrama Bingo as well as her favorite dramas.

☕️ We explore comfort watches and discuss the full spectrum of Kdramas from heavy and thought-provoking to light and funny. 

🤝 We share favorite tropes (cohabitation, enemies-to-lovers) and delve into Kdrama as a soft power tool. Plus, Naa shares tips on how to find your fandom both on and offline.

✅ Spoiler Free episode. Enjoy!

⏰ Timestamps:

[00:00:33] Meet Naa 

[00:01:36] Kdrama Bingo 

[00:02:40] Currently Watching 

[00:06:31] Naa's Kdrama Origin Story 

[00:08:16] Naa's Favorites and Recommendations 

[00:35:55] Kdrama Bingo App 

Dramas mentioned:

• Perfect Marriage Revenge 
• Moon Lovers Scarlet Heart
• Tastefully Yours
• Nine Puzzles
• Mr. Bride
• My Lovely Samsoon
• My Mister
• Mysterious Kiss
• Shopping King Louis
• Semantic Error
• Love Between Fairy and Devil
• Lovely Runner
• Eve
• Doom at Your Service
• Part Time Idol

Website: http://kingogames.llc/

Instagram: @kdramabingo

Facebook: @kdramabingo

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:05

This is the How I Met My K-Drama podcast, and it's all about K-drama origin stories and recommendations. I'm Sarah Rosette, and today Naw from K-Drama Bingo is here. How are you, Naw?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I am so well. I'm so happy to be here, Sarah.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

I'm so excited to talk to you. We have K-drama stuff to talk about and then other interesting K-drama-related things to talk about. So we'll get to that in a minute. But tell everyone a little bit about yourself, like who you are and what you do and all that.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Yeah, uh I am a small business owner. And I guess about four or five years back now, I decided that I really wanted to invest time in what I've been calling communities of joy. So different brands around things that make me happy, make other people happy. And the only thing they have in common is the idea of joyfulness. So one of them is K-Drama Bingo because I've come to really love watching Korean dramas and the whole fan community of Asian dramas has been really valuable and meaningful to me.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

That is so cool. And I love the building things around joy that brings you joy and brings other people joy. That's a great way to think about your business. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Thank you. Yeah, it's quite fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

Cool. We'll talk about that more properly as we go on. But and if people are interested in K-drama bingo, should we let's say up front what where they can find that and what that is?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah. So K Drama Bingo is a journal activity book that I have designed and that I hand make for quite obviously people who enjoy K-dramas. The idea started when I started making bingo cards of the tropes, and I was just at first just playing them by myself. And during the pandemic, when I had way more time to watch dramas, I would take pictures of my little hand-drawn bingo cards and send them to my friends. Um even though those folks did not watch dramas, they were like, you should share this. This looks fun. So that was the evolution. Bingo cards that are full of tropes, some that are blank so that fans can fill them with their own favorite tropes. There's journaling and a coloring book section, and just it's all just to again like amplify, increase the joy, the fun that we get from watching dramas.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Yeah, I think it's perfect because as I got into K dramas, you're looking for certain tropes and things. And when you see them, it's like, oh, there's that one. There's the umbrella trope, there's the catch and fall trope.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

It's so fun. Spark of fun when you're like, oh, I recognize that.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Yeah, yeah. Cool. All right. Tell us what you're currently watching. Let's talk about that for a little bit before we get into your origin story.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yeah, lately I, or maybe I would say for the past two years or so, I have been more focused on watching previous dramas than currently airing dramas. Um, right now I'm re-watching Perfect Marriage Revenge that came out in 2023, that I was quite obsessed with when it first came out. Yeah. So that's on Vicky. And then I'm also watching for the first time Moon Lovers, Scarlet Harry, because for a long time it was hard to actually find it to stream anywhere. And now that's also on Vicky. I'm really, it's been fun to create my own opinions of it after so many years of hearing podcasters talk about it. And the only currently airing drama that I am currently watching is Tastefully Yours. I just started that, so I don't have a strong understanding of it yet, but I'm very curious because of Hanul's great.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

So yeah, yeah, I just started. I've been watching Tastefully Years too, I'm not caught up on it, and I'm enjoying it. It feels like it's like all the things that I want in rom com. I'm just hoping it stays that way all the way through.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

No serial killers yet.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

No, nothing. That is true. That is a good bonus point right there.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

I really hope it stays that way.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

Yeah, I don't mind mystery. I like a little mystery, but when it just seems, oh, we need something to fill up these episodes, we'll drop that in. I don't like that. So I agree.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Yeah, let's see. I started nine puzzles, which is on Hulu. It's a mystery one, and it's very well done. I think I'm all caught up on it. I think there's like two more episodes to go. And I'm I really like it. It's got a lot of twisty turny things that I was like, oh, that's an interesting way to go with the story. So I'm loving that. And I've started watching some J dramas. I like to go back like you and watch some of the older ones. And I started this J drama. It's called Mr. Bride, and it's over the top. It's a rom-com. It's just so over the top and goofy humor, but it's taking on this thing, this it's letting people and viewers think about these ways we approach work for men and women and the different standards they have. So there's this woman that she's very good at her job, she excels at her job, and everyone thinks she's perfect, but her home life is terrible. Like it's she's her apartment is a mess, she doesn't eat well, and one of her employees, a younger guy, realizes what's going on, and they end up coming to this cohabitation arrangement where he stays there and cooks for her. And of course he's in love with her and she doesn't realize it. So it's one of those things where there's romance, but it's really talking like the expectations that the men and the women have at work and at home. And it's letting people look at that in such a humorous framework that it's non-threatening, I guess. But anyway, so that's a fun one that I see in the comments on Vicky that it's very manga coded, I guess they would say, where it's so over the top. And yeah, but I think it's lots of fun.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

I think that's pretty common for J dramas. That also sounds like, especially given the work culture in Japan, pretty fun and interesting. So I hadn't heard of it. I'm going to add that to my list.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Yeah, it's got an actress in it that I really like. I think she goes by just her first name is Haru H A R U. And so I've seen her in a couple other dramas that I liked. And as that's how I get down these little winding paths of finding dramas that are maybe not well real well known. All right. So let's talk about origin stories. How did you get into K-drama? And what was your face first cave drama if you remember?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

I do remember. I started watching K-dramas in 2018. A colleague of mine at the time, she's Korean American, and she and I had been talking about how bored we were of American television. And even though she at the time didn't really watch K-dramas that much, she mentioned a K-drama that she watched when she was younger as a kid when it was currently airing, and that K-drama was My Lovely Samsung. So that was my first K-drama. Yeah. It stars Kim Sana and Hyam Bin. And the interesting thing is that I actually didn't enjoy it, but I did it. There was something about the storytelling. Part of that was the storytelling. Part of it was I wanted to be able to tell my friend my opinion of the whole thing. And I think that it probably didn't age well for people who watched it after it was currently airing. Although I can't remember if it was last year or this year in 2025, that there's like a remastered shorter version that has come out. But again, even though I didn't enjoy that one, something hooked me and I was on the Vicky app and there was so much content, and I just kept watching and I never stopped.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

I could see that. Yeah. That's one that I hear mentioned as like a classic, one of the golden oldies of K dramas. I checked it out and I was like, I think it's hard. Part of it is the fashion and the hairstyles. It's hard to get past that. And then some of the things with the plot. I was like, yeah, I don't know if this is for me right now, but I may go back to the remastered one and check that out someday.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Yeah, I think I I would like to do that too, but I agree. I can't see myself going back to Rear Wash.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Which K drama has a special place in your heart and why does it resonate with you? What's one of fears that you just love, love, love?

SPEAKER_00 8:24

For me, I would have to say the top answer to that is my mister. And I have a lot of complicated feelings about that now. It's a year and a half and past. But although I wouldn't say it's a perfect drama, the reason that it holds a special place in my heart is because first off, I think I really learned and took some lessons to heart about how to communicate and love honestly and how people define family differently. And even though, in the context of the drama that led to a lot of angst and difficulty, I really see it as like a life-changing drama for me of this is something when you care about someone, when you love someone, you should talk about these things. Like, what does family mean to you? What does family mean to me? Does family mean all your extended family? And so you need a big van for your brothers and your mother, which is one of the that comes up as a conflict in one of the couples in the drama. Or does family mean your nuclear family and it's you and your spouse and your child? And so priorities should focus there. And just it sounds so obvious when you say it out loud, but then it's actually like, how many of us actually ask each other things like that? That type of question can apply to friendship as well. There are a lot of things like that, and the fact that at the core of it, it's a story that is about non-romantic love. So it holds a really special place in my heart. And up until Sungyan's passing, it was my like go-to comfort walk. I've actually emotionally been able to rewatch it since, but I hope that I will be able to someday.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

I can understand that. And I didn't watch it for a while because I thought it's so intense. There's certain dramas that you just know they're intense and they're just going to be an emotional roller coaster. I don't know. I just knew it was going to be intense. And so I held off watching it. And once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. And I I watched a lot of rom-coms, so it was nice to have a change of pace where it was this is about friendship, this is about family, this is about kindness. I just really I loved it. I thought it was really and I and it I thought it had a very hopeful ending, even though certain things happened that you're like, oh, I didn't want that to happen. Certain characters we say goodbye to, but I was okay with it. And I thought, were you okay with all that?

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah. And yeah to me, there's a lot of times where I want to read or watch a happily ever after. I also think that sometimes when you're going through a hard time, what's more comforting is the realistic story of people who get through the other side of something difficult. So I think maybe that's why my mystery is like comforting to me. Yeah. It's a real honest look at so many characters going through difficult things and at the end on the other side having found peace and like a good place for themselves.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

And that's very encouraging because we can hope for that for ourselves and our family and our friends. That even though it's terrible now, we will get through it. I can see that. Since that was your comfort watch, do you have something else? Is it my perfect marriage revenge now that you're enjoying, or what do you do now?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

I'm wondering if that will become my comfort watch. I've been trying to think absent my miss, or what is it that brings me comfort in to make me re-watch something? I actually think it's for me, it's very much the emotions that I had while watching it, as well as like how much it made me feel in community. So one thing that was fun about Perfect Marriage Revenge was like not only did it catch me by surprise, I just had so much fun talking about it with people online and being invited to a podcast to talk about it. And so it just so many good memories. I also ended up reading the webtoon. So it's multi-layered joy, basically. There's so much to go back and plunge myself into.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

I agree with that. That's one thing I love about K Drum is because whatever fandom I'm part of, either they're not really that active or there's just not a really a fandom for them. I'm fans of all these really strange niche books that they had a fandom in the 80s, but not anymore. It's just things like that. So this is the first time I'm like, oh, there are people that are interested in this thing I'm watching right now, and I can talk to them. Where do you go online? Where have you found your communities online to talk about K-drama?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

At this point, it's so interesting that it's really condensed down to Instagram. And I that has definitely changed since I started watching in 2018. But I think that's in part because I just enjoy listening to podcasts so much. I have for well over a decade. Once I got into the K-drama fan, sorry, listening to K-drama podcasters, it's a really easy place to find folks. And so yeah, I would say a big place that I look at other people's content, chat, get in their DMs is Instagram. I'm also very fortunate. I live in the DC area and there's so many K-drama fans around here. And so even just like coincidentally meeting people who are podcasters and such, there's quite a lot of us within an hour drive of each other. So we hang out.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Yeah, oh, how fun. Like in real life.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Yeah, in real life. That used to be like I would do that maybe once every three or four months. But at this point, pretty much once every six to eight weeks, I'm hanging out with other K-drama fans. So in in another like two, three weeks or so, we're having a little K-drama fan birthday party with us who all have birthdays in June, and we're gonna go to a restaurant together and and have a good time.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

Wow, that's so fun. That's great. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

I feel very fortunate to live in a region where that's possible.

SPEAKER_03 14:28

Yeah. And it just goes to show you could probably reach out to people in your area if you live in a bigger metropolitan area and say, hey, is there anybody around here that wants to go to lunch to talk about K-dramas? I think that'd be cool. What's a K-drama trope that you can't resist? Like you just you're gonna watch it, you're gonna check it out.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

It's so funny because I really had a hard time thinking about is there just one? Since for me. Your specialty is all kinds of tropes, right? General are the candy for me, just the fact that they're there. But if I had to pick just one, it would probably be the cohabitation trip. And I think it's because it rolls up so many other things that I like, forced proximity, and usually there's an element of enemies to lovers in there. So if I had to pick just one that almost always piques my interest enough to actually start to hit play, it's probably cohabitation.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Okay. Yeah. Do you have a favorite cohabitation drama that if people like that trope that you would recommend?

SPEAKER_00 15:29

I would say because this is my first life, is a really good one. It came out in 2017. I think it's still on Netflix, uh, definitely on Netflix. I think so. And it's one of those that back to what we were saying about my mister, like it does talk about a more realistic perspective of starting to care for somebody and what that looks like. Yeah, taking care of yourself as well. So I really enjoy it for that reason, even though the scenario of cohabitation is almost always contrived. Of course it is. That's that's the whole point. But even so, I think in the case of that particular drama, it feels realistic in a comforting, encouraging way.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Yeah, there's enough realism there that you can go with it. And for the tropes we love, we're willing to go there, even though it may be a little contrived. Yes. Let's get them in a situation where they must share an apartment. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Yes, exactly. That's how I ended up watching like the mysterious kiss.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

All of that Japanese mysterious kiss, playful kiss, all of that kind of universe of they're not high quality, I don't think anyone could say, but they certainly end up being entertaining.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

Yeah. Do you have a character or a couple that has just resonated and stayed with you over time that you continue to think about from a K drama?

SPEAKER_00 16:57

I think one that I haven't mentioned yet. I'm a big fan of the actor sewing gook. It's it's embarrassing how much I'm a fan.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Okay. I think it's fine. Everybody has their fandoms that they're into.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Everyone has their fandoms. The reason I say it's embarrassing is because he did his first US fan meets last year. And I went to one and I got so excited that I when he gave me a high five that I started jumping up and down and my entire wig fell off. Oh no. Exactly. My whole wig fell off. And I ended up like stomping on it because I was jumping up and down so hard. To be clear, like I'm in my late 30s. And again, at the end of the day, I'm not actually too embarrassed because he didn't see it happen. Thank goodness. That would have been too much. But anyway, I'm a big fan of Stone Cook. I love many of his dramas. His 2016 drama, Shopping King Louis, so sweet. There's still cha-ball conflict and back end shenanigans and danger and that kind of thing. But the core of it is this young couple. And they're so sweet in taking care of themselves. As I say all this out loud, I realize there's a trend. These people taking good care of each other and helping each other. That's not really a trope as a theme. I guess it hits well for me.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

I love that. That's one of my favorite things about K dramas is that you get to see all these people come together and how they support each other, especially if they started out alienated or they like if one person was alienated and they other and the group takes them in, or they were enemies in the beginning and they get to see that trust built. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah, and that's exactly what you just said about the trust being built over time. I think is also why I like the couples from semantic error and then from C drama Love Between Fairy and Devil. And both of those two dramas really hit me in my feelings. I think as much as I in my personal life, I do not want any enemies. However, the thing about that like enemies to lovers and trust over time is I just find it so appealing. The idea that you would see somebody at their worst love them anyway, and not because of their worst qualities, right? But as you see somebody at their worst, and as you get to know them, you are overcome with love for them. I just that I love that too, yeah. Great to me. Yeah, yeah. I would say shopping King Louie, Semantic Error, Love Between Fairy and Devil, those are all just a just a few of the couples that meant for in my head. I even have a like K-drama OST rent-free playlist. So the OSTs for those are all on that list.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

Yeah, I imagine. Yeah, those are great. Something that you maybe wouldn't normally have watched, but then you thought, oh, I'll give this a try, and you really liked it.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Perfect Marriage Revenge ended up being one of those in 2023, just because I don't often watch mock jung style or revenge dramas. I guess I actually read books like that pretty often, but I don't necessarily watch K dramas like that very often. I I thought I would enjoy it because of the social media content that I saw a lot of my favorite creators and podcasters making, but it really caught me off guard to just like how much I was obsessed with it. Especially the first half of it. I just found it so delightfully fun. And then I would say Lovely Runner last. Again, it wasn't a surprise in terms of the content. You were saying umbrella tropes earlier. I love a good use of the umbrella trope and lovely runner like nailed that completely. It was beautiful with the color schemes and the locations and snow versus rain and all this stuff. So in the content, I'm not surprised that I liked it, but I also don't often watch like high school dramas. So at first, that's what I thought it was more focused on. And of course, once you watch it, you realize that it follows the main couple over a quite a long extended period of time in their lives. So it's not purely about their high school years, but yeah, the those are probably the most recent ones that surprised me.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

I love a good England Trump, true. Can't resist it. It's fun. How do you pick what you're going to watch next? Do you mentioned you like to go back and watch older shows? So how do you decide? Because there's like a wealth of shows to check out. So much.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

My my first criteria is always like my emotional mood. Like, how am I feeling now? Because, for example, um, I think it's called When Life Gives You Tangerine. I've heard it's great, but I'm not in the mood to cry right now. So I think 100% right now. Yeah, I think I'll watch it this summer, but I'm like, right now, I can't handle that. I also, as you can tell, I'm a big fan of other K drama fans. Um and so when somebody that I respect or I I like their their opinions shares that they enjoy something, I usually put it. My drama list to come back to at some point or another. And then the last criteria is I don't frequently do buddy watches, but I do them sometimes. And so usually when I'm doing a buddy watch, I'm pretty open to whatever the other person wants to watch. And so I end up watching dramas that I probably wouldn't have otherwise, which is also a good experience.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Because sometimes I've picked up things that I thought not really, I'm not super excited about it, but then I get drawn into it and I probably wouldn't have watched it except for a recommendation or seeing or hearing a podcast about it or something like that. Do you have any K-drama disappointments, shows that just didn't work for you? If people are vibing with everything you're saying, this might help them go, oh, maybe that one's not for me.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah, I would say my number one K-drama disappointment ever was Eve. Oh, it came out in 2022, and it just seemed like it had so much potential. And it basically turned into a story of a woman being suckered and weak about the person that she had one of the people she had wanted to commit revenge against. Exactly. And so perfect marriage revenge. Also, the second half of it tapered a little bit, but I would say that the range and the extreme of it in Eve was too much. Y'all, she could have been so cool, she could have been so vicious. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

The waste of a really great cast. Trying to think what other disappointment.

SPEAKER_03 23:45

Yeah, it's the ones that disappoint me are the ones I see they had potential, and you're like, this could have been so good. And then either it goes a direction that I hadn't expected and it's not what I thought it would be, or it just isn't well executed. And that's like the worst, I think.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

I've gotten to the point where if there's a lot of promotion and hype about it in advance, I'm very leery, cautious. And in particular, not that I've been watching for so long, but I think in particular the shifts over the past four years or so as the Korean market has made more explicit their intention to have K-dramas be popular outside of Asia, which has been like a strategic goal of the Korean government for decades.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

They just say it in their press releases. And so I would say Queen of Tears and Love Next Door were two where I was like, why did you waste your cast this way? The hype already made me skeptical. And then once I watched them, I was like, oh, what a bummer.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

It's disappointing. But obviously, their um PR is working because I know so many people who have either traveled to Korea or are going to travel to Korea or want to travel to Korea. Just it's a very interesting, like you'll make an interesting case study on how to make something appealing, a market, how to reach other markets and make people want to come to your country. It's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

It's not that this is what we're here for, but it's I would argue it's the most successful case of like soft power building of the century.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

And in part it's like under the radar, don't you feel like it's like under the radar?

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Like, I don't know that the radar to Americans because we weren't aware when it started.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

But part of my market research when I started K Drama Bingo was actually like reading research studies on this and some of the reports and publications from the different Korean government agencies in charge of like tourism and things like that. So for me, I like nerd out on the back end because I'm like, okay, I see that you had this strategy and this is how you're implementing it, and this is how it's working, and it's pretty much working. It's completely working.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Yeah, and I'm nerding out with you. I'm like, yo, tell me more. I want to know more.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Yeah, I'll send you some links to report something like when we're done.

unknown 26:01

Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

That's my weekend right there. My watch my K dramas and read about the research and stuff. But I meant like it's under the radar in that some people still don't know what K-dramas are, just like the general public, yes, especially in the West, because I've had people say, Oh, you said you liked K dramas, and I had to look that up and see what it was. And I was like, you know, I didn't know about them until fairly recently. It's making inroads in Western culture in ways that I've never seen any other places do that, except maybe brick box, acorn type stuff. There's a an allure of, oh, I want to go to visit an English village and escape to the country, but I don't know that it's the same level.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

I think that's really an interesting comparison. For me, I often compare it to watching telenovelas, watching Bollywood, watching Nollywood. And I say because I'm a first generation American. And I've realized a lot amongst many of my K drama watching friends who are also first generation, like we coincidentally or accidentally stumbled upon this idea that actually a lot of us went through this evolution, whether we watched on our own family, where it was like the drama of telenovelas with your grandmother, and then you go to college and you start watching Bollywood. And then like that evolution, like K-dramas have become the next step. So I do think that all of those examples I just gave aren't, like you said, they didn't lead to people like planning K-drama trips and droves, planning trips to those countries and droves, I should say. There's something unique about K-dramas where people want to go to the sets, they want to see the town to go on tours. And as much as there have been all types of fandoms that have generated cultural interest across time, and Japan's a great example of Japanese culture. Yeah. But you're right, it didn't result in people flocking to visit Japan in the same way.

SPEAKER_03 28:00

It's very interesting. Yeah, we could go on about this for a while. Okay, I'm gonna pull us back on track. We'll have another podcast maybe sometime where we just really get into this if you're interested. I love that. Oh, that'd be cool. Okay, so the next question that I ask everybody is do you keep track of the dramas you watched? And I've since you do the journal, I'm assuming you do, and you have a perfect way to keep track of things. So how do you do how do you keep track of your personal watches?

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Yeah, so when I first started, I literally only kept track with my K-drama bingo journal because basically every bingo card that I or its own episode or its own drama. So I still do that actually, usually playing by myself because I don't necessarily have the patience to wait for a friend to watch the drama at the same time. But I also use my drama list because it eventually I got to a point where I was like, oh, I have no memory of how many dramas I watched. So I like had to go back retroactively and try to figure it out. At this point, I'm sure it's been a few hundred, but I don't, I'm not even confident that my drama list accurately reflects all of my different watch lists.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

It is hard to keep up with stuff. Yeah. Do you have something that you've done or tried or eaten because of K-drama? Do you have anything like that?

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Oh gosh, I have an example that's definitely probably not what people would expect. Okay. And we all know how much product placement PPL is a big deal in K-dramas. And when I watched Doom at your service, the Oreo cereal. Honestly, she was just sitting on her couch eating dry cereal. It shouldn't have been appealing. But I had never seen Oreo cereal before. And I learned later that it was absolutely not a new thing in the US, but I had just never noticed it. And I literally went like straight out to the grocery store and bought a few boxes. I have definitely been suffered by K-drama PPL before.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

That is a unique one. And yeah, that's funny too. Because a lot of the things that we see, I'm like, I don't even know if we could get that here. Like if I was interested in caffeine gum or whatever it is that they have. Can you again?

SPEAKER_00 30:10

I'm so fortunate. I live in this area with the Korean grocery stores and lots of Korean people. So I don't, you can order those things online easily. Yeah, that's true too. I can I can literally drive 10 minutes and pick some up. I'm quite spoiled.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

That is awesome. We talked about this a lot, and you may not have anything else to say on this, but in case you do, why are K-dramas special to you? Do you have anything you want to add to that, to what we've already talked about?

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Yeah, I would say the the reasons that they're special to me are the values that I decided to make my brand values for K-drama.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

First is like the idea of staying playful, which is very connected to the idea of joy. But I just think as adults, a lot of times we don't leave enough time for play in our lives. And so I really enjoy how being part of the K-drama fandom and watching K-dramas can encourage that playfulness. The second is just like encouraging and respecting other fans and that everyone comes to fandom in a different place, and that you also don't have to be in a static place. And I think a great example of that is that people talk all the time about being in a K-drama slump and there's no stigma to it. And I think that's really great. There are definitely, I'm sure there's parts of the fandom that have some gatekeeping. But what I love about the K-drama fandom that I get to engage with is there's not gatekeeping like that. If you have a slump, it doesn't matter. You can come back whenever you want, and someone will be excited to talk about dramas with you. And I and so that leads into my last thing that's part of the appreciation that I think surrounds the whole environment okay dramas. When you appreciate how many people work so hard, not just to create the dramas, but also to make them accessible to those of us who don't speak or read Korean. Like it's so much work, whether it's wiki subbers or professional suburbs or whatever, all the creators who make content and like research history and teaching the backstory and like apply to be ambassadors on behalf of Korea so that they can teach all of us like the cultural things behind the dramas. Like I am in awe of what people, the effort that people put in. And so I think that the playfulness, the encouragement, the respect, the appreciation, all of that is why K dramas are special to me in their content, but more so in the community around them.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

Yeah, like this effect they bring about in the world. Yeah. Yeah. And I agree about the playfulness. I feel like that's something that gets overlooked or is looked down on if the show is a lot of rom coms get this. People will talk about it and they'll say, Oh, it's just a rom-com. And I and like people come up with excuses. I just need a power cleanser after blah blah. And I don't normally watch these shows, but I really needed a break. And we shouldn't be talking about a whole section of entertainment that way. And we shouldn't shame ourselves. And we should be like, I love this, it's fun, and let's enjoy it instead of making excuses for it. So I love that about K dramas.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Yeah, I think it's one of their biggest draws.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

Yeah, I think so too. Yeah. What do you what drama do you wish more people would watch or more people knew about? Is there one that you would like really to highlight?

SPEAKER_00 33:39

I thought very long and hard about this question because I wanted to have a really good answer, a recommendation that your kids would appreciate. But I think I have to be honest and say, not only do I not have a good answer, the only one that came up to mind, I'm not sure I would actually recommend. However, do it, do it. It's on Netflix. Not a recommendation to finish this drama, to be quite clear. I'm a big fan. I'm absolutely on a member of like team dropa drama. Don't waste your time. However, there are parts of this that I find entertaining. And so I don't know, maybe for people who wanted to like people who don't mind like skimming clips or like dropping in and out. The reason that this drama is memorable to me is because it's about these kids who want to become idols, k-pop idols. And this like has been producer pulls them all together, and despite all of their many flaws, they end up being able to debut. And there's some like toilet humor and stuff that I just don't find funny, and I think is part of what ends up detracting from it overall. But the music ends up being quite good. And so for a while after I watched that drama, this was well before I was had any particular interest in K-pop, but I would listen to the soundtrack of that drama every day at the end of my commute. So as soon as I walked out of the metro station, I would listen to the soundtrack while walking to my desk. And it was like my pump up music. Uh-huh. Get in the mood. And one of the songs is called Red Carpet. So I would literally pretend I was walking on a red carpet in the train to my desk. And I ended up telling my coworkers because they were like, now what are you doing? Why do you do this every morning? And I was like, I am walking on the K drama red carpet, and I am like ready for work. So anyway, if anybody ever needs that pick me up and you don't mind an absurd drama.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

Awesome. I think that's great. Now we've discussed the spectrum, like the really heavy, deep ones to really light emotional ones. I mean that they're still emotional, but they're lighter. I love that. Any links you'd like to share about any where can people find you online and things like that in your journals?

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Yeah, you can find my journal, kdramabingo.com. And starting this summer, the very long-awaited beta version of the app will be available so folks can play bingo on their devices. And I really want people's feedback. I'll announce that on social media and across social media.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

This is Sarah popping in here to let you know that since we recorded this, it's been a while. And not reached out and let me know that the in-browser beta version is available, and you can find that at kingogames.lc. So that's k-in-g O G-A-N-E-S dot L L C and that link will be in the show notes.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

I'm at K Drama Bingo. I'm most active on Instagram, a little bit on Facebook as well.

SPEAKER_03 36:41

Awesome. I'm excited about the app. I can't wait to hear about it and try it out. So I'll be looking for that. And we'll have all those links in the show notes. And just thanks for being here and talking to me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Thank you so much for having me, Sarah. It's been so fun.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

It's been a great time. All right. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a few minutes to rate or review it wherever you listen to podcasts. That will help K Drama fans find a podcast. So thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time. Bye, everyone.